Device for raising sunken vessels.



E. H. PETTIT.

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS. APPLICATION mm JUNE 15. 1917.

l 256, 365 Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

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J5 WW r E. H. mm. DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15. I91]- Patented Feb. 12, 1918.

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1 2mm, or NIAGARA r'ALLs, new our, ASSIGNOB on ONE-HALF T0 JOHN T. WILLIAMSON, or NIAGARA FALLS, mew roam DEVICE son RAI SING sonxnnvassnns.

Specification of Letters Patent.

racemes Feb. 12, 1918.

.Appllcation filed June 15,1917. 8erie1 I-To.175,018.

To all whom it may concern.

' eating and raisin Be it known that I, Enxnsr H. m'rrr, a citizen of thelUnited States, residing at Niagara Fallsfin the county of Niagara and State of New ork, have invented cer- "tain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Raising Sunken Vessels; and I do'hereby declare the following tofbea full, clear, .and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to devicesjgr'losunken vessels and the primary object 0 the invention is to provide a buo carrying a line which is httached to t e 'vessehso that when the vessel sinks the buoy will. rise and float on top of the water and indicate the location ofthe sunken vessel. g

, Another object of the invention is the provision ofmeans whereby a grappling device can be guided by the line-which is attached to the buoy and vessel, to a hook or other engaging device fixed to a rigid part of the vessel, so that the sunken vessel can be readily and conveniently raised.

A further object of the invention is the provision of compartmcnts arranged on the vessel for carrying-the buoy and engaging device which has a pivoted cover, so arranged that the same is adapted to be op.- erated by the pressure of the water to open the same so that the buoy is automatically released ,upon the sinking of the vessel.

, A still further object of the invention is the provision of means for mechanically operating the door to open the same from the inside of a boat, so that the improved device can be attached and eiiiciently operated from a submarine.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a device of the above char ;acter which is durable and efiicient in use and one that can be readily attached to any style of boat.

Vith these and other objects in view. the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement and formation of parts as will be hereinafter more fully, described, claimed and "illustrated in the accompanying draw in storming a part thereof, in whichigure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation -;of a ship showing the same arranged with the compartment which carries the buoy and engaging device and showing the door of the compartment open,

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view through the compartment applied to the side of a ship showing the door closed,

Fig. is a detail view gof the improved buoy showing the line carrying spool in section, i

Fig. 4 is a modified form of the device showing the same applied to a submarine, illustrating the manner of raising the submarine, I

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the compartment showing the same arranged on a submarine,

. Fig. (3 is a detail view of a 'modificd form of engaging device to be carried by the vessel,

Fig. 7 is a detail view of a further modified form of engaging device to be carried bythe vessel, and

Fig. 8 is a still further modified form of engagin device carried by the vessel.

Fig. 9 is a detail view of the door latching device shown inlig. 2.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the sevcralvicws, the numeral 1 generally indicates the compartment. formed in the side of a vessel 2. in which is prcficrably ar ranged the improvedvessel raisihg and loeating device 3. formed with a pair of compartments 1 arranged on each side thereof'and leach compartment is formed of a plate or plates 4 curved to form rear, side and upper and lower walls which carry the outstanding flange 5 which provide means whereby the plates can be readily secured tol the sides of the vessel. f

The improved vessel raising and locating device comprises the buoy 6, which is adapted to rest upon a pair of spaced supporting brackets 7 secured to the'bottom wall of the plate 4 of the compartment under normal conditions. The buoy .6 comprises two spherical shaped air chambers 7 and 8 respectively connected b the rod 9 which rotatably carries the spobl 10 upon which the line 11 iscoiled. T he spool 10 consists of substantially semijspherical shaped flanges 12, which are adapted to engage the air chambers 7' and 8 and the connecting tube 13 .which is 'rotatably mounted upon .IIach vessel is lpre'fcrably j loo the connecting rod 9. One of the splnnrieal shaped air chambers is formed with outer surface highly polished fleet the rays of light in the daytime sons to attract notice, while the other chamber is preferably painted a color which will uttract notice under all conditions.

A. hook shaped member it is secured to the rear wall of the compartment by means of having its ends reduced and upset as at 15 and has the bill portion thereof curved downwardly and inwardly as at 16. The free end of the bill 16 of the hook is aper- 1 hired as at 17 and is adapted to receive the end of the. line which is carried by the spool 10. A pivoted locking member 18'is pivot ally secured to the shank of the heel: 14 by meansof a pivot. pin 19 and normally bears against the walls of the notch -formed in the inner surface of the bill 16. A. spring 21 is provided for normally urging the lock ing member 18 into engagement with the walls 20 of the notch.

A cover 22 is hingedly secured to the sides of the vessel and constitutes a water tight closure for the compartment. Hinges 23 are fastened to the low r portion of the door and to the sides of the vessel and heavy coil spring-s24 are wrapped around the pivot pin 25 and normally tend to throw the door outward.

The rear Wall of the compartment carries a. pair of heavy expansion coil springs 26 arranged adjacent the top thereof which are adapted to bear against the inner surface of the door for urging "the same outward. A. plurality of openings 27 is formed in the upper wall of the compartment and each opening has an outlet 28 positioned inward of the door 22 and an outlet 29, which. is normally held closed by the upper edge of the door 22, which carries the gasket 2h). A. similar gasket 31 is arranged adjacent the bottom of the door and coi'iperate's with the gasket 30 to prevent entrance of water into the compartment under normal conditions. A bolt 32 is slidahly mounted in the bracket 33 rigidly carried by the outer surface of the door adjacent the top thereof and an expansion coil spring 34 bears against the lower surface of the bracket and against a pin 35 rigidly carried by the bolt 32 and normally tends to draw the bolt downward and out of engagement with the keeper 36 which is secured to the side of'the vessel 2 and adjacent the cornpartr'nent. The keeper 36 has an inwardly extending lug 37 which is adapted to engage in a recess 38 formed-in the bolt 32 adjaso as to re cent the top thereof and holds the bolt in,

position in the keeper of the coil spring 84:.

By this arrangement it will be seen that if the vessel sinks. the pressure of the water will bear against the door 22 and whenthe 36 against the tension pointed as at 54 vessel reaches a certain depth the pressure will overcome the coil spring 26 and more the door inward, which will move the lug 37 out of engagement "with the recess 38 formed in the bolt 32 and allow the coil spring at to draw'the same out of engagement with the keeper. When the door is pressed inward beyond the inlet opening 29 the water will enter the opening and into the compartment and when the pressure of the water on both sides of the door is equalized the coil spring 26 and the coil spring 2% wrapped around the pivot pin 25 will swing the door openand allow the buoy 6 to float upward to the surface of the Water which will indicate the location of the vessel.

As shown in Fig. t the device can be readily applied to a submarine and in this arrangement the compartments 4: are preferably arranged on the upper surface of .the boat 38 and the hook 14 is preferably secured to the bottom of the compartments. By this construction. the door 22 carries an inwardly extending keeper 39 which is engeared by the sliding bolt 4-0 which carries a coilspring 41 which normally holds the bolt in position in the keeper. A lever 42 is seecured as at 43 to the side of the Vessel 38' and extends inwardly and pivotally receives the free end of the bolt so that when it is desired to open the door the lever can be operated from the inside of the vessel to draw back the bolt and allow the spring hinges 23 to throw the door open and allow the buoy to ri e to the surface of the Water.

nstead of using a hook 14 other engaging devices as illustrated in Figs. 6. 7, and 8 can be substituted therefor., and as illustrated in Figs 6 an upstanding post 43 is secured to the casing and has a series of spaced annular grooves 44 formed therein ior receiving a ring 45 carried by the chain to which is carried by the wrecking tug designated as 4?. The upstanding post 43 has its end reduced and apertured as at 48 to receive the free end of the line carried by the buoy 6.

in Fig. 7 a pair of spaced arms 49 are pivotally secured to the lower wall of the compartment as at 50 and have a contractile coil spring 51 normallv tending to draw the two arms together. Each arm carries at its free uuper end an inwardly extending hookshnped portion 52 which is adapted to receive the disk-shaped member 53 which is carried by the chain 46 instead of the ring 45 The disk member 53 has its free end for spreading" the arms -19 apart so that the hook-shaped ends 52 can engage the top surface thereof. so that the sunken vessel can The free end of the line 11 carried by the buoy is secured intermediate the arms -19 by means of an eye 55.

be conveniently raised.

masses In F igIB is illustrated a still further modi fication in which a shank 56 is secured in the compartment and carries a cone -shaped member 57 and by its end carries the line 11 carried by the buoy 6. In this construction the ring 45 is dispensed with and a plate 58 is substituted therefor which carries a pair of spaced arms 59 which are pivotally secured to the under surface of the plate as at 60. The spaced arms 59 carry the ins rardly extending hook-shaped members (ll Which are adapted to engage under the under surface of the cone 57 so that the boat can be raised when so desired.

In operation of the improved device, it can be seen'that when the boat sinks the buoy. 6 will rise to' the top surface of the water and when it is desired to raise the same, a wrecking tag 47 is employed, as clearly shown in Fig. 4 and a ring 45 or other grappling device is passed around the line 11 and the same will guide the ring 45 over the bill 16 of the hook 14 and the locking' member 18 prevents the withdrawal thereof, sothat .upon tightening the chain 46 the sunken vessel can be readilyraised.

In practice, I have found that the form of my invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings and referred to in the above description, as the preferred embodiment, is the most ellieient and practical; yet

realizing the conditions concurrent with the adoption of my device will necessarily vary,

I desire to emphasize the fact that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangementof parts may be resorted to, when required without sacrifieing any of the advantages; of invention as set. forth.

What is claimed is:--

1. In a device for raising and locating unken yessels, a compartment arranged in a vessel, a buoy arranged in said compartment, a door for said compartment, :1 bolt carried by said door, a keeper carried by the side of the vessel, spring means carried by said bolt; to normally hold the bolt out of .engagement from said keeper, means carried by said keeper for engaging said bolt forbolt for normally holding the same in said keeper, and spring means normally tending to hold the bolt in engagement with the lug carried by the keeper, as and for the purpose specified. 3. In a device for raising and locating sunken vessels, a compartment arranged in a vessel, a buoy arranged in said compartment, :1 door for. said compartment, on aging means carried in said compartment a Jacent said buoy, a keeper carried by the side of said vessel, a bolt carried by said door for engaging said keeper, means normally tending to draw said bolt from out of engagement with the keeper. means carried by said keeper for engaging said bolt for normally holding the same in said keeper, and spring means normally tending to open said door, said spring means being arranged to normally hold said bolt in engagement with the means. carried by the keeper, as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST H. PETTIT.

Witnesses:

. v Max M. Orrxznmzm, SARAH OPPENl-IEIM. 

